Take-up device for knitting-machines.



N! 11-, WILLIAMS. TAKE-UP DEYIQB FUR, KNITTING MACHINES. APPLIGATLQN rum) JIUNEIS, 1912. RENEWED AUG. 15. 1914.

Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

5 SHEETSSHEET 1.

INVENTOR LOUIE: N. D. WILLIAMS WITNESSES v BY HIS ATTORNEY WITNES$ES L. N/D. WILLIAMS.

TAKE-UP DEVICE FOR KNITTING MACHINES;

APPLICATION FILED JUNE13. 1912v RENEWED AUG. 15, 1914.

.1, 1 33,079, Patented Mar. 23, 191.5.

5 SHEETSSHEET 2.

, r v "INVENTOR m w LOUIS N D. WILLIAMS BY 15 ATTORNEY..

L. N. D. WILLIAMS.-

TAKE-UP DEVICE FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE13, 1912. RENEWED AUG.15,1914;

Patented Mar. 23, 1915. 5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

INVENTQR M Q \m oh aw 3+ 8 Q Q WITN ESS E$ LOUIS N. D. WILLJAMS BV His ATTORNEY L. N. D. WILLIAMS. TAKE-UP DEVICE FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED mums, 1 912, RENEWED AUG. 15, 1914.

Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

s SHEETS-SHEB 17.4

T .Am w n E .LT VN N W '5 Ab NITNESSE L. N. D. WILLIAMS. TAKE-UP DEVICE FOR KNITTING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED JUNEIB, 1912. RENEWED AUG.15, 1914.

1,133,079., Patented Mar. 23, 19151 ',LOUIS nnwnunms v av HESHTTORNEY ATEN FFIC.

\ To till whom it may concern:

- Be it known-that I, Lorns N. D. W n- LrAMs, a citizen of the United States, residing in Ogontz, Montgomery" county, Pennsylvania, have invented certam Improve ments in Take-Up Devices .for Knitting- Machines, of which the following is a spec fication.

Myinvention relates to that class of tea drivenl take-ups for knitting machines in which the knitted 'web passes from the a needle cylinder between'a' pair of take-up rolls, the weight of the latter,-and of th'e op.-

erating 1 devices therefor, hanging upon the knitted web so as to impart tensionthereto.

The object of my inventioni's' to so construct such take-up mechanism as to insure uniform} tension upon""the knitted web.

This object I attain in the manner he'reinafter setyforth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which-- Fi ure' 1 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in vertical sectiom'of sulficient of akni'tting machine to illustrate one form of take-up mechanism constructed in accordance with'my invention; Fig. 2 is a view, partly in elevation and partly 1n transverse section, on the line -a1a-, F1g. 1; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but illustrating another and simpler embodiment of' ny 111-: vention; Fig. 4 is a sectional plan view .on the line bfib, Fig. 3; Fig. 5 isa View partly in: side elevation and partly in vert cal sectionillustrating a still simpler embodiment of myinvention; Fig. 6 is an enlarged sec tional view of part of the same; F ig'. 7 isa view" partly in side elevation and partly n section illustrating the application of myin-J vention to another typeof machine than,

thatshown in Figs. 1, 3 and 1; Fig. 8 isa plan or top view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 7 Fig. 9is a view similar to Fig. 7 but illustrating some of the parts in a different position from that therein shown; Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 7, but illustrating a construction of driving mechanism somewhat different from that therein shown; Fig. 11 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in section and on an enlarged scale of one of the members of the mechanism shown in Fig. 7 ;'Fig. 12 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but illustrating means for actuating the take-up mechanism somewhat different from that shown in said figure, and Fig. 13 is an inverted horizbntal section on the line o-o, Fig. 12.

a shaft 18 which Specification of Letters Patent. Patented M31; 23, 1915 '-.-ns uca'eoi filed .Tune 13, 1a12,ser1a1 No. 703,433. Renewed August 15, 1914. Serial No. 856,988.-

In Fig. 1 of the drawing, I have illustrated my invention as applied to that type of circular knitting machine in which the cylinder 2, and 3 represents the needle cylinder' which is carried by -'a ,drive ring 4, A the :latter being rotatably mounted inthe bed 1. and beingp'rovided with an annular rack- 5 meshing with a spur wheel 6. on the main driving shaft 7 of the machine.

' The take-up rolls 8 are mounted so as to rotate in bearings atthe upper end'of a frame comprising depending. rods 9 and a cross head 10, constitutingata'ke-up roll carrierwhi'ch is free to rise and fall, the rods '9ypassing through openings in a ring 11 which can turn in an intermediate member 1210fthe fixed frame and is caused to rotate in unison with the needle cylinder 3 in any suitablemanner, said ring being'in the present instance connected to the drive ring 4 by, any suitable number of depending bars 13. The rods 9 are also guided in openings in a flange 14 and in a cross head 15 located re-- spectively at the upper and lower ends of a' frame 1'6 secured to and depending from the ring 11.

' One of the take-up rolls is rotated in one direction and the otherin the "opposite diat the upper end of p is' free to rotate in bearings 19 and 20, the upper bearing projecting from the take-up roll bearings and the lower -bearing being secured to the cross head 10. Suitable gearing for driving the rolls 8 from the worm 17 is shown in Figs. 3 and 4. J

The lower end of the shaft 18 isconnected by bevel wheels 21 and 22 to afhorizontal shaft 23 which turns in a bearing 24 depending from the cross head 10 and is provided at its inner end with a worm wheel 25, the latter meshing with a worm 26 (Fig. 2) on a short counter shaft 27 which turns in hearings in a bracket28 depending from the cross head l0,and has at one end a star wheel consisting of a hub with projecting rection from a worm 17 'tappets 29.

support beneath ti. .3 take-up mechanism just described, is a shaft 32 which has at one end a pulley 33 and at the other end a be el wheel 36. The ulley 33 receives a belt 3i from a pulley 35 on the driving shaft 7 of the machine! the latter ulley being shown by dotted lines in Fig. l. The bevel Wheel iii-meshes with a horizontal bevel Wheel 3? free to turn on a stud 38 projecting from the top of the bearing 30, said bevel wheel 37 being provided on its upper face with a series of tappets 39 which travel in a circular plane intersected by the. plane of rotation of thetappets 29, as shown in Fig. 2.

The belt 34'is in permanent driving cor.- nection with the pulley 33 and consequently the shaft 32, and the bevel wheel 37 driven thereby, rotate continuously during the operation of the machine When the knitted I the take-uprolls 8,

web'is first applied to however, the latter and the operating mechanism-therefor are elevated to such an extent that the tappets 29 are out of the path of the tappets'39 and the take-up rolls have no movement of rotation imparted to them but simp'ly descend with the web of fabricas the latter is produced, the weight of the take-up rollsand their appurtenances averting upon the web the necessary ten- 510m As the knittingxof the web continues the take-up rolls and-their appurtenances de scend-until finally the tappets'29 come into the path of the rotating tappets 39 and are in succession struck and moved by the late ter so'as toimpart intermittent movements ofpartialrotation to the shaft 27 which movements are transmitted by means of the gearing hereinbefore' described to the "Worm shaft 18 and thence to the gearing which rotates the take-up rolls 8, the latter there fore climbing upon the knitted web until the tappetsfi29 are again lifted above the path of the tappets 39, whereupon the ro v tation-of the take-up rolls ceasesuritil the lengtheningWeb'of'fabric permits such "further descent of'said take-up rolls and their.

appurtenances as't'o again causeehgagement of th e't'appets 39 with'the tappets 29 where} upon thdoperations before described are re 'Peated-.-

' *Heretofore,

ened or, in non-driving contact with thj'p "descends When thetalr'e-up roll fcltrrier rises, Ltherefore, -the entire F weight ot the take-up rolls and their appurtenances is carried by the knitted web but when said takein. take-up devices of the class which. my invention relates the shaft 32" cifrrying the belt pulley has been mounted upon, and therefore partakes of theriS-i in and falling movement of, the take-up rol carrier; the" driving belt 34'being'slaek-fl I l meshe's'with the bevel pinion 36 at the inner no roll carrier descends" and the belt 3% is adapted to fixed bearings and the driving tightened into driving contact with the pulbelt is always in driving connection with the pulley 33, the full eight of the take-1 p rolls and their appurtenances being always exerted upon the knitted web, consequently the tension upon the latter is uniform at all times; 7

Figs. 3 and l rep res ent a somewhat simpler embodimentof my invention than that set forth in Figsfil and 2, and in these latter figures theparts constructed and operated as thoseset forth in Figs. 1 and 2 are correspondingly numbered. In the constructions shown in Figs."3 and 4, however, the bars 13-which connect the drive ring 4: with the lower rotating ring 11 are forked at their lowerends so as to provide a pivotal support 50 for a swingingframe 51 which carries a, pair of take-up rolls 52 geared together by a pair of spur gears 53 at oneendas shown in Fig. 4, so as to rotate in opposite directions, the shaft of one of the takeup rolls also carrying a spur wheel 54 which meshes with another spur wheel 55 on a shaft 56 adapted to a bearhug in'af bracket 57 mounted upon a cross bar 58 on the swinging frame 51, said shaft also Jcarryinga worm wheel 59 which meshes withthe worm 17, the shaft 18 of the latter being mounted so as to turn. freelyin a bearing 60 carried the bracket, 57, as shown in Fig. 3.v Tothe lower end of the shaft 18 is secured a disk 43 with project. ing tappets 29' adapted to be struck and moved by a pease projecting upwardly froma drui'nfilfwhich is free to turn on' a stud 62,.t'h'e hrtter'being secured to and 'nrof je'cting ii'pivardlyffi'oni the ring 11, p

The, lower end iif the drum 61 has aspur wlieel'63 which meshes \vitha'spur wheel 6t fo'rmedon the'iipper portion of a ring 65, thelatterbeing carried by segments 113' fitted to an'o'pening in the ring 11 and said ringf65 beingrecessed so while it is fiee'to" turn on said segments it is vertically, confined thereto. The lower end of the ring 65 is providedwith abevel wheel 66 which same including the drum 61 and its spur wheel 63 all rotate with the knitting ,machine cylinder 3 and the ring 11 but the ring 65 has independent rotation imparted to it preferably in a direction the reverse of that of the rotation of the ring 11 by means of the bevel, pinion 36, consequently the drum 61 is caused to rotate upon its axis and the tappets 39 of said drum strike and move the tappets 29 of the disk 43 whenever the latter tappets are in range of said tappets 39. This is dependent upon the rise and fall contact of the tappets of the. take-up rolls 52 with the knitted web delivered from the knitting machine cyl- 'inder.

- i The inoperative position of the rolls is that represented in Fig. at which time the disk 43 is' horizontal, its lower face being parallel with the upper face of the drum G1. At'such time the tappets 39 will pass the tappets 29 without contacting with the same. As soon, however, as the swinging frame 51 begins to swing downwardly from the position shown in Fig. 3 because of the length-- ening web' of fabric, that portion of the disk 43 which is closest to the take-up rolls also passes downwardly and therefore brings the tappct carried by that part of the disk into range of the ta ppets 39 of the drunrGl, consequently each of the latter tappets imparts a movement of partial rotation to the disk 43 and thence to the take-up roll operating mechanism so as to cause the latter to climb upon the web of fabric, this movement continuing until the parts are again in the po sition shown in Fig. 3 and the tappets 29 are out of the path of the tappets 39."

In order to prevent injury to the parts of the machine which might be caused by end and 39, if both of said tappets were rigid, I prefer to mount the tappets 39' upon the drum 61 so that they can yield vertically therein, as shown in Fig. 3, each tappet 39 being adapted to an opening formed in the drgun 61. and said tappet resting upon a sprii' "67 at the bot tom of said opening, longitudinal movement of the tappet being restricted by engagement of a projecting pin 47 thereon with. the ends of the slot 48 formed in the drum 61.

Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawing show an embodiment of my invention which is still simpler than that showni'n Figs. 3 and 4. In theconstruction shown in Fig. 5, I have used the take-up rolls mounted in a frame 9 free to slide vertically througl'i the ring 11, the main difference between this embodiment of my invention and that shown in the other figures of the drawing being in the sinplilication of the gearing whereby the take-up rolls are driven- The tahcaip rolls 8 are geared together as before and the shaft of one of the take-up rolls has at one end a bevel wheel 70 which meshes with another bevel wheel 71 on the shaft 56 which car- 'tappet is carried by a bevel v cupying the same position as the disk 61 in ries the worm wheel 59, both theshaft 56 and the worm shaft 18 being adapted to hearings in a bracket 72 projecting from one of the bars .9 of the'vertically movable takeup frame. In this case the disk 43 carrying the tappets 29 is mounted upon'the worm shaft and the actuating tappets 39 are carried by a ring 73 mounted so as to rotate in' the fixed frame 12 of the machine. and having beveled teethwhich mesh with those of the bevel pinion 36 on the shaft 32, rising and falling movement of the take-up roll frame carrying the tappets 29 out of and into-the path of the-tappets 39 as will be readily understood. In this construction a single spring 67 may serve to project diametrically opposite t'appets 29 of the disk 43, this necessitating the offsetting of one pair of tappets in respect to the other, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, and the tappets 39 being wide enough to engage with both sets of tappets 29.

In that form of my improved take-up mechanism shown in Figs. 7, 8, and 9, the take-up rolls are carried by a frame 40 having pivot pins .41 adapted to fixed bearings 42, said frame being free to swing upon its pivots 41 so as to rise with the take-up rolls as they climb upon the knitted web and. de-

scend. with said rolls, as the web lengthens. The worm shaft 18 carries adisk 43 which faces a disk 61 and carries tappets 29 for engaging tappets 39 projecting from the face of said disk 61, the latter being mounted upon the shaft 32, which carries the belt driven pulley 33. When the parts are In the position shown in Fig. 7, the take-up rolls are non-rotative and descend with the knitted web, carrying with them the frame 40, and this causes the tappet disk 43 to move toward the disk 61 until finally a tappet 29 at the lower portion of said disk 43 contacts'with a tappet 39 while the latter is traversing the lower portion of its circular path (as shown in Fig. 9) and movement of partial rotation is thereby imparted to the disk 43 and worm shaft 18 and thence to the take up rolls, the latter therefore climbing upon the knitted webuntil they haveraised the frame 40 sufliciently to again withdraw the tappets 29 out of. the path of the tappet 39. In this constructionof take-up as in that shown in the other figures of the draw; I2 3 ing, the shaft 32 occupies a fixed position and the belt 34 is alwaysin driving contact with the pulley33 andat no time bears any 4 portion of the weight of the take-up rolls and their appurtenances, such weight always bein exerted upon the knitted web only.

In the construction shown in Fig. 10 a wheel 44 oothe construction shown in Fig. 7 ,and geared by means of a bevel wheel 45 to the shaft 32 which constitutes a pivot shaftfor the frame 40, the belt pulley 33 in this case occupying a position at a right angle to that which it occupies in the construction shown in Fig. 7 but the operation of the devices being in other respects substantially the same.

Take-up mechanism of the types shown in Figs. 7 to 10 is intended for use in connec tion with a machine having a non-rotating needle cylinder.

In Fig. 11, I have shown means for yieldingly mounting the tappets 29 upon a disk d3 of the character represented in Figs. 7 to 10. Instead of yieldingly mounting the tappets upon a disk or other carrier, as described, I may in some cases yieldingly mount the tappet disk or carrier itself, one means of accomplishing this result being shown in Fig. 9 and consisting of a spring 75 coiled around the shaft 32 and interposed between the hub of the disk 61 and the hearing for said shafts 32. l v

In Figs. 12 and 13 I have shown a modification of my invention which permits of the use of change gears for determining the speed of rotation of the drum 61. In this construction the fixed structure 12 has secured to it'a spur Wheel 7 6, the ring 11 being recessed for the reception of said spur wheel and said ring providing a bearing for the shaft 77 of the drum 61, which shaft is provided at its lower end with a pinion 78 free from engagement with the spur wheel 76 but in driving connection, through the medium of an interposed spur wheel 79, with a pinion 80 which is in mesh with the spur wheel 76, as shown in Fig. 13. The shafts of the pinion 80 .and intermediate spur wheel 79 can be adjusted in slots in the ring 11 so as to permit of the use of larger or smaller pinion 80 and thereby regulate the speed at which the shaft 77 and drum 61 are rotated. i

I claim; I r

1, In take-up mechanism for knitting machines, the combination of a take-up roll carrier movable in the direction of delivery of the knitted web and take-up-roll driving mechanism having a driven member on the movable take-up-roll carrier, and a driving member mounted in fixed bearings.

' 2. In take-up mechanism for knitting machines, the combination of a take-up-roll carriermovable with the knitted web, and takeup-roll-driving mechanism having a driven member on the movable take-up-roll carrier, 2 driving member therefor mounted in fixed spring-projected tappets.

bearings, and connected to a belt pulley, another belt pulley mounted in fixed bearings on the machine and a belt connecting said pulleys.

3. In take-up mechanism for knitting machines, the combination of take-uprolls and their appurtenances whose weight is carried by the knitted web, and a belt-actuated takeup-roll driver carried by a shaft which is mounted in a bearing having no movement of rotation about'the axis of the machine, said shaft having a pulley with which the belt is in continuous driving contact.

4. In take-up mechanism for knitting mall chines, the combination of take-up rolls and their appurtenances mounted in a movable carrierflwhereby the take-up rolls are free to rise upon or descend with the knitted web and cause their weight to exert tension upon said web, and driving devices for the take up rolls having as elements a tappet wheel on the movable take-up-ro1l earner and a tappet wheel whose shaft is mounted in fixed bearings.

5. In take-up mechanism for knitting machines, the combination of take-up rolls and their appurtenances mounted in a movable carrier whereby the take-up rolls are free to rise upon or descend with'the knitted web and cause their weight to exert tension upon said web, and driving devices for the takeup rolls having as elements a tappet wheel on the movabh take-up-roll carrier and a tappet wheel on a belt driven shaft mounted in bearings which do not partake of the movement of the take-up-roll carrier.

6. Take-up mechanism for knitting machines comprising take-up rolls for engaging the knitted web, and driving devices for said take-up rolls having engaging tappets and means providing a yielding backing for one or more of said tappets.

7. Take-up mechanism for knitting machines comprising take-up rolls for engaging the knitted web, and driving devices for said take-up rolls having as elements tappet wheels, one of which is provided with In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to th s specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

v LOUIS N. n. WILLIAMS.

Witnesses:

KATE A. BEADLE, HAMILTON D. TURNER. 

